Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed he will provide guarantees of £40bn for loans for infrastructure projects as a further incentive to encourage pension schemes to finance them.

In his Autumn statement, Osborne said the government would also directly invest an additional £5bn to get projects off the ground. Projects worth £10bn have already qualified for loan guarantees. A further £10bn has been guaranteed for housing projects, lifting annual infrastructure spending to £33bn, according to Osborne.

Projects include improvements to roads, rail and an extension of the London Underground to Battersea Power Station, where development projects have met a succession of delays. They also includes flood defence, broadband expansion, scientific research facilities and education.

Osborne said: “Our country’s pension funds will launch their new independent infrastructure investment platform next year.” The National Association of Pension Funds and Pension Protection Funds confirmed in October that its UK schemes were on track to invest at least £2bn.

Elsewhere, Osborne has provided potential relief to pension schemes whose sponsors are being forced to fund hefty deficits. One factor relates to a rise in liabilities as a result of low interest rates, exacerbated by the purchase of government bonds by the Bank of England through quantitative easing.

In a statement, HM Treasury said: “The Department of Work and Pensions will consult on providing the Pensions Regulator with a new statutory objective to consider the long-term affordability of deficit recovery plans to sponsoring employers. DWP will consult on whether to allow companies undergoing valuation in 2013 or later to smooth asset and liability values.”

The review is likely to lead to a relaxation of recovery plans. According to reports, it is also possible that liabilities will be smoothed over values struck over the previous five years. But the later move is likely to be resisted by actuaries, who argue that measures like these fail to reflect underlying market conditions.

Darren Philp, director of policy at the National Association of Pension Funds, said: “We have been calling on the government to help pension funds deal with the damaging effects of QE for a long time, and we are pleased that it has listened. It is good to see the Chancellor explicitly recognising the problem.

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“We will work closely with the government and the regulator to help find a solution to the volatility in funding deficits that companies are currently experiencing.

“But time is of the essence. It is important that any change is implemented quickly, and helps companies currently going through their funding valuations. These firms are the most affected by the current low gilt yields, and any support should be extended to them too.”

Colin English, head of business development at Russell Investments, said: “These review recommendations will not wholly solve the underlying economic problems continuing to face businesses and pension funds in the UK. In this current market of volatility and low returns, the ability for some decisions to be made nimbly is essential.”

As well as attempting to relieve pension costs on sponsors, Osborne has cut corporation tax to 21% by April 2014. This compares to 28% when he first became Chancellor, subsequently lowered to 24%, with 22% previously earmarked for the future. The small company tax rate has fallen to 20%. He has promised £1bn in funding for a new Government business bank and £1.25bn for export credit guarantees.

The Government will also increase the annual investment allowance from £25,000 to £250,000 for qualifying investment in plant and machinery for two years from January 1, 2013. Osborne is putting up the limit on tax efficient ISA savings plans for individuals to £11,520 by April: “And we will consult on allowing investment in SME equity markets like Aim to be held directly in stocks and shares ISAs, to encourage investment in growing businesses.”